E-zekiel Technology Blog

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Thanks for a great 2012

Thanks for a great 2012, and thanks for subscribing and reading the E-zekiel Tech Blog. We hope it's been helpful.

You may be aware that we also started a blog on our company site (axletree.am/blog) earlier in 2012. It's been a great avenue for us to talk about technology and communication as a whole and how they can both be used in ministry.

We've decided to consolidate this blog into the Axletree blog. We believe it gives us a better place to talk about all of our products and services, as well as do a better job of keeping you informed through one blog.

So please join us (and the conversation) over at axletree.am/blog. See you there!

Generating Traffic through Digital Asset Optimization

While the text on your pages is the foundation for Search Engine Optimization techniques that generate traffic to your site, you’ve also got other types of content that create awareness, including images, video, PDFs and audio. Digital Asset Optimization (DAO) techniques will help you make this type of content search-engine friendly. As with SEO, using keywords in file names and tags for all images, video, audio and image ALT text is an important DAO practice.

Building Awareness through SMO

The need for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a given for organizations that want to attract the right audience to their site. Social Media Optimization (SMO) is another relevant strategy for reaching people, but instead of focusing on search engines as the source of generating awareness, that role shifts to social media outlets, including RSS feeds, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Engagement is one of the qualities that drives social media success, and creating engaging content that people will interact with and share is the first order of business for SMO.

Continuing Thankfulness

On this last day of November, it’s good to have one more reminder of the thankfulness this month celebrates. In that spirit, take a look at a recent post from blogger and author Michael Hyatt – The Gift of Today. He offers up gratitude as a solution for every problem and links to a moving video about approaching each day as a gift.

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone

We’re only a few days from Thanksgiving and offer our best wishes for a happy time with family and friends. Thanksgiving was first established as a national holiday in 1863 and is observed on the fourth Thursday in November. While families gather with their favorite dishes and long-held customs, this day also offers us traditions from the field of sports (a lot of football rivalries hold their meetings this weekend) and entertainment (think Macy’s parade and big movie releases).

For Christians, this day is an opportunity to remember the source of our blessings, to express gratitude to the Almighty for all He has done, and to share His love with others. Every year, many churches have their own Thanksgiving traditions, including special services and meals for the needy. In a timely and welcome twist this year for the New York and New Jersey area, a church movement called “Sandy Thanksgiving” (sandythanksgiving.com) was created to help serve those families that were hit hard by the devastating storm.

So Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! May we all remember the Source of blessings and share the Good News others in word and deed.

Search Engines Find More, More Directly

Google and Bing are the search engine giants of the Internet, but they also do more than take you to the home pages where you can find your answer. Often, they just take you to your answer. A recent New York Times article showed many examples, including:

Want a flight status? Skip going to the airline home page. Just enter the flight number in the search field.

Need a definition? Skip looking for a dictionary site. Enter the word plus dictionary in the search field. And you'll get your definition from a dictionary site.

New E-zekiel Theme

Tempo offers an upbeat, clean design that's easy to read and navigate. The right column adds visual interest and helps group your website content, making your entire site all-around more pleasing for guests. Add a scripture reference or your church's mission to the slogan field and bring the masthead area alive with clean, oversized type that differentiates your site and welcomes visitors. See Tempo in action on a sample site.View all the recently released E-zekiel Themes.

Why Create a Blog

Blogs are a way to connect, inspire, encourage and educate – and you can easily create blogs for your site through E-zekiel’s syndication manager. Blogs benefit Search Engine Optimization, for one reason, because they provide fresh content and search engines like fresh content. Additionally, blogs increase the size of the site, which adds authority and provides more pages for internal links – other SEO benefits. And there are also reasons that Christians specifically should blog, to find out more read thisblog post from Pastors.com.

The Sticky Issue of Unfriending

Facebook friendships can be fun, inspiring and useful. But they can also be uncomfortable, annoying, irritating or offensive – depending on how you feel about certain comments, photos and videos that fill your newsfeed. “Unfriending” someone – even someone you don’t know well – can seem awkward, especially for those in ministry. What can you do? This article gives tips on managing not-so-fun friendships.

Password Overload

It seems as if passwords are the currency of life today. Whether accessing your work files, paying bills, buying stuff online, sending or receiving email, reading news from your favorite site, entering or exiting your home and a whole bunch of other stuff … you’re going to need a password for that. Experts tell you to change your password routinely so that you won’t be a target of ID theft. Yet people don’t like to do it. In fact, studies show a lot of people really, really don’t like to change a password. Just how unpopular is the common activity “thinking up a new password”. View this article on the results of a recent survey.